September 11, 2012 5:34 AM PDT
My daughter woke me up very early that morning,shouting abt whats on TV.I stumbled outta bed & watched as the news people were discussing what happened,like maybe it was an accident.Then another newscaster broke in sayin another plane was approaching, my daughter ran out of the room saying she didnt want to see it hit.Sure enough it did.
I worked for the Port Authority in Oakland,and called in to see if we were to come to work. My boss said yes,so I jumped on my motorcycle and rode in,in spite of my fears, we were the counterpart of the New Jersey Port Authority which worked out of the 76th floor in NYC. Part of my dutys at work was to correspond with my fellow port authority workers in NYC on a weekly basis,there was one lady in particular I was on a friendly basis with in NYC & we shared quite a few laughs, ovr the years, I worked in Oakland doing risk management work that facilitated projects we worked on jointly. Later I found out that she never made it out,along with a number of other people in her dept. They let us go home about 2 pm that day.We would have been sitting ducks if attacked by airplane since our building sat rite on the waterfront facing the bay.
We held a very moving tribute ceremony in their honor a few weeks after the attack,never understood why people liked bagpipes till tht day when I heard them play in their honor,still brings tears to my eyes whenever I hear them now,its like the sound of those pipes echoed the feelings of complete despair so many of us were feeling over this terrible attack on our country, and the loss of co workers in NYC.
I for one will never forget that terrible time and only hope the pain has lessened for those who lost loved ones!